Erie, PA

Please prepare yourself for ridiculous amounts of posts and pictures to come. Our trip was amazing to say the least, and definitely one that will be repeated in the future.

This year the mission of our trip was threefold, the first of which was to meet Philip's parents in Erie, where they have been serving their mission for the past almost two years. We flew into Baltimore, a mere 6 hours away, and then road tripped through Pennsylvania. And now for the pictures:

ERIE OR BUST!!!

I was glad to see that Arizona isn't the only place that people paint classy murals on their cars. Indeed it was welcoming, I seriously couldn't get over how pretty and green everything was!

And then late that night we finally arrived at Phil and Janet's apartment, and let me tell you, this boy was happy to see his mama. It was a very happy reunion.

The next day, Phil and Janet took us to a few of their favorite spots in Erie, the first of which was this amazing little diner/icecream shop called Sarah's, where you obviously had to take a picture with the people-sized hotdog.

The reason for this stop was to get the orange sherbet and vanilla swirl cones that were in a word, perfection. And who doesn't love icecream at 10 AM?

We then were shown Lake Erie, where we all waded and sweat, since it was a mere 400 degrees outside with 8000% humidity.

Yay! Together again!

Philip's sisters are always nice enough to have a girls picture that I'm included in. :)

Janet loving on her boy.

Philip and cute nephews, Desmond & Garrison

Cute nieces, Jocelyn, Aniston, Janet

It was after this day that I decided I would no longer attempt to do my hair in Pennsylvania.

Jocelyn found some sort of shell thing that her mom, Michelle kept telling her was a dead person's finger that was floating in the lake. And I laughed every time. And from the looks of their faces, I think that Janet and Kate believed her.

Max and Philip

Rockwell, Jolie, and her crack

Desy, Garry, Maxy and Phil

After we had all sweat bucket loads, we went to Quaker Stake and Lube for wings. It was there that Julia met up with us and surprised us all, since she hadn't originally planned on coming! Yet another happy hug.

The wings were delicious, and the company was delightful.

The rest of the day consisted of going to a chocolate shop, driving around Erie, hanging out with the Oneders (false, no oneders sightings took place), and then that night a giant party. Phil and Janet's ward hosted a huge open house where all the people that they met and loved from Erie could come and say their final goodbyes and meet all of their kids and grandkids. It was so great to hear about how loved Elder and Sister Lindblom were and how much they helped, which almost made us feel bad for wanting to bring them back to Mesa with us! Not bad enough though. And word has it that Phil and Janet made it back safely to Mesa just yesterday, hip hip hooray!

Next stop/post: Punxy. Be prepared for your mind to be blown. :)